Ready. Set. SAORI (Bridges of Elm Park)

The past 2 weeks have just flown by in a streak of woven colors!
Now that I am looking back at my summer with SAORI Worcester, I am most overwhelmed by how close I have become to Mihoko and Nat, Asa and Nori.
Even though it may not seem profound or particularly insightful, I think that a good way to tell how far you’ve come in a period of time (that just seemed to Fly By) is to look at the relationships you’ve gained and all you have learned that you didn’t know anything about before.
When I start to think “wow, I can’t BELIEVE how quickly this internship has gone by”, I remind myself how, before this internship, I didn’t even know Mihoko or Nat or their children. I didn’t know anything about Saori (except what I had read on the website in preparation for working with them).
Now it is like I am part of their family. I know the ins-and-outs of their home let alone their small business. I can set up and take off a warp on any of the looms without help, I can teach Mihoko’s weaving classes, I can create new files in the database on the computer, I can update their website. I send emails from the company address to the public. I got 3 stories published in the Telegram and Gazette, Worcetser Magazine and Telegram and Towns. I have publicized on every major netoworking site (Twitter, facebook, WorcetserGOlist, SAORIExplorers…etc)…
And so much more. I honestly think it might be impossible to write down all I am capable of doing now. Sure, a lot of it is very specific to this business (Knowing how to get to the Monitor Roster PDF on the office computer won’t really help me in a desk job)—but EVERYTHING plays into ‘the bigger picture’, right?

 Yesterday I went to GreenFest in Boston with Mihoko and Asa. It was like a fieldtrip and we had SO much fun. She picked me up at my apartment at 6:30am, and we continued on to Boston, skipping all of the traffic cus it was so gosh-darn-early. The van was filled to capacity with looms and tables and yarn and shuttles (with JUST enough space to fit Asa in the back). We set up in front of Town Hall (near the North End and the Prudential Center. We set up in a big white tent that resembled a clean circus tent. We then proceeded to teach little kids and adults the same, How to Weave SAORI style. No one bought anything, which was disappointing, but everyone LOVED the weaving. We packed up out supplies and finished by 6pm and got back to Worcester at 7:30pm. Mihoko is superwoman. She works so hard, it is unbelievable. While Asa and I immediately fell asleep in the car, Mihoko drove. Through traffic. Lots of traffic to Worcetser. She then, I am sure, went home to unpack the car, do some computer work and/or make dinner for her family and take care of her boys.
(I have no Idea when that woman sleeps.)

Today, being the second day of GreenFest, I Covered both of Mihoko’s Saturday classes and she went to Boston again (with just Asa to help her).
Teaching felt AMAZING, and I w as surprised at how much I knew and How well I coped with being in-charge.

Now I must stop working. Tomorrow is my only day off this week, and then Monday we start to run, head first, into the SAORI Bridges of Elm park. (Firing proofing all 66 of the banners, sewing the rest of the titles onto the banners, getting all of the Monitor spaces filled with volunteers, and actually hanging the show…filling in for ALL the spaces that get left open….

It will be SO intense. And I am, at this moment, to tired to fully comprehend how much we have to do.

Fow My Final Week with SAORI Worcester.
I feel the pre-let-down setting in.
I am going to go through such huge withdrawal, not only from Mihoko and Nat, but with Weaving. I wont get to after next week…until I find a looommmm…or Time.

Who knows what the future will bring.

Art in the Parking Lot was this past Sunday (2 days ago). The sun was shining (I got a sunburn), it rained for approximately 3 and a half minutes (which was momentarily refreshing) and both children and adults were taught how to weave (by Mihoko and myself).
4 bands and independent musicians played live music in a tent, different shops and art groups and organizations had tents circled around chalk art and break dancing in the center.

Tonight, Jon Hansen is coming to take a trial class with me and Mihoko. 
Today, I wrote this on the Bridges Facebook page:


It's Time, Folks!--The installation is going up 2 weeks from NOW! You know what that means? YOU and a group of your friends need to check your schedules and pick a time to monitor the banners at elm park. The shifts are short (6 hours in the day, 4 hour in the night) and we have already organized the times for you.


What kind of volunteer are YOU? If you want to hang out in the park and have a picnic or play some instruments or throw a Frisbee around with your pals, than do either the 8am-2pm shift or the 2pm-8pm shift. If you'd rather stroll along the sidewalk chatting or read a book with your headlamp, than go for one of the night shifts (8pm-12am, 12am-4am, 4am-8am.

To sign up, go to: http://saoriworcester.com/contact.htm
_____________________________________________________________________

The camp this week has kept us very busy. We had campers from the JCC (The Jewish Community Center) from 10-12 monday to friday (today). They were so great!

We had 7 campers all around the age of 9, and 2 councelers (college-age boys). Thye campers were all girls except for 1 boy. He ended up making a hat out of his woven material that looked like an egg was dropped on his head! (haha)

In general though, it took them a while to warm up. Some of them were more adventurous than others. One girl, Olivia, wove a pinecone into her work right on the first day! and others stuck with the same 2 colors and the same alternating pattern the whole time! It's very interesting to see what kids Assume is expected pf them...without being told.
In the rest of their lives and education they must be expected to do everything 'right'. The process they went through in this one week in letting go of that (at least to a small extent)was really evident by the last class this morning.




I just got off the phone with Susan, the lovely writer who is doing a story about the Saori Bridges of Elm Park, and she told me that one of my quotes opens the whole piece. I am really excited about it. Also, today I saw the Telegram and Town and I am on the cover weaving on an 'earth loom' (a warp set up between two trees) at the Worcester Center for Crafts.

More work to be done.
Last friday we had a meeting to talk about my goals. it went well, and I feel like the appropriate changes have happened. I feel more evenly spread between office work and studio work.
I finished my "Upside-down Pants" this week too. They look great. rather crazy, but i like the.

The more i do this the more I want to BE a weaver and teach weaving. It's quite addictive.

Today I went to Elm Park with Mihoko to see if the floating sculptures (that someone installed for the upcoming Art In The Park event) interfered with the view of the banners on the bridges. They did, and we walked around the park and the red bridge to see if any angle was clear.

I received an email in response to my 'press release packet' that was rather demeaning, accusing me of 'bothering them with information that didn't pertain to them".

After further consideration, and feeling guilty for a bit that I hadn’t explained the installation adequately, I read over both my email and the Press Release Itself and saw that it was this person, in fact, who was completely misunderstanding the gist. I have a feeling this person didn't even read the Press Release (which reiterated what was briefed in the email).

Very rude. So many assumptions made on their part.

So, after feeling personally slighted, I simply let Nat (who already noticed this email and decided to act proactively before I had even read it) deal with it as he would. He knew this person and other’s in their organization.

All set. Good.
This morning We received 5 boxes of banners from Japan, Connecticut and…Colorado?

It was so much fun to open all of them-like Christmas.
I sewed labels on to each banner.
(I updated my blog…)

I just emailed all of the poeple on our 'publicity' list. It feels so good to check something off of the list.

Update monitor roster. check.

publish updated word doc. to the internet. check.

email all 167 publicity people. check

update the 'publicity' database as i go. check.

research how to get the SAORI Bridges of Elm Park on the hand weaver's guild website... I'm on it.

Today Mihoko and Nat and I had a meeting right when i got in about what they both needed me to do for the upcoming week. This week we are painting more walls in the studio and moving shelves around. I am sewing labels on banners as they come in, updating the Monitor's Roster on line (and the contacts database on the office desktop to keep our contact info for these volunteers up to date), emailing different perfectly worded emails to publicity people/organizations, and researching more news papers and guild-publications that I can send our "press release package" to.

I painted the wall behind the warping boards a lovely purple. Mihoko got a darker accent purple for the wall behind the yarns. I am so excited to see this studio change shape and take form. It looks more and more like a room every day.

I am going to update the monitor roster now. A husband and wife are monitoring together for 6 hours on thursday.

so sweet.

The beginning of another busy week, i am, sure.
This thursday is out last Community Conversation (Vamos a Hablar de Nuestro Barrio)...Last time we had such a good turn out, and it was a lovely gathering. I hope we have as much interest this week.

The Summer showers always feel so intense and new, as though every time they happen it is the first summer of my life. The first time my nostrils have breathed that deep. The first time the raindrops have been so fat.

I am sitting at the desk in the office above the Weaving Studio at SAORI Worcester.

Earlier today I painted a second coat of "lavender cloud" on the studio walls, while Mihoko sanded the Spackle on the other wall.

It's a friday, which means no classes. That gives us more time to do bigger projects without being interrupted.

I did, however, make a horrible mistake today in my weaving:

I had the warp all set up and ready to tie on to the apron, and the slippery threads i was using began to SLIDE out of their heddles! I told myself i would be careful this time (because I ones lost everything carelessly moving my loom the first time i ever threaded a warp)--but i guess it was some sort of necessary learning experience.

Now I am making phone calls to various folk in worcester and beyond who can help me publicize.

:) I love being a SAORIer.

Contact us page on the SAORI Worcester webpage:


Hey all! Won't you please help us monitor the SAORI Bridges of Elm Park round-the-clock Wed.Aug.25-Sun. Aug.29? All you have to do is, with your shift team, keep an eye on the two Elm Park bridges, politely ask people to stop if they are hurting the installation, and call 911 in case of any emergency. Full instructions (what to bring, what to do, where to be, etc.) will be given to all volunteer monitors. We need at least 4 people 18 or older not only to sign up, but to SHOW UP for their shift, about 10 minutes before it begins so there is no gap in monitoring. Day shifts (during park hours) are 6 hours long; Night shifts (station to be set up on Park Ave.) are 4 hours long.

"How can I become a Monitor?", you may be asking yourself. Just enter your contact info, then write your message in the "comment" space above with: 1) the shift(s) you want; 2) the number of people volunteering. We'll confirm your message right away! You can sign up for as many shifts as you want, but please be reliable. If you can't make a shift that you signed up for, give us a call at 508-757-4646 as soon as you know. Check the SAORI BRIDGES OF ELM PARK page to see who else is on your shift!

THE SHIFTS (we need people for ALL of them!).

WED. 8/25: 8pm-12am.

THU. 8/26: 12am-4am; 4am-8am; 8am-2pm; 2pm-8pm; 8pm-12am

FRI. 8/27: 12am-4am; 4am-8am; 8am-2pm; 2pm-8pm; 8pm-12am

SAT.8/28: 12am-4am; 4am-8am; 8am-2pm; 2pm-8pm; 8pm-12am

SUN. 8/29: 12am-4am; 4am-8am; 8am-2pm

Thank you in advance for helping us make this community peace installation possible!

~Grace (the SAORI summer intern)

I am becoming accustomed to signing letters and messages:

"Grace, the SAORI Summer Intern"


It has a nice ring to it.




This week I am running head first into publicity for the SAORI Bridges of Elm Park. World meet the Installation; You're going to be great friends.

Last night Nat and I attended the Party Fundraiser for Art In The Park at Beatniks. We arrived at 8:30 and set up our loom and leaned a sandwich board against a wall. The space was small and Helen was trying to help us squeeze into apropriate spots (where we wouldn't get hit by the swinging kitchen door or be in the way of people watching the bands play).
We chatted with people, and tried to get folks to sign up to monitor the banners, and I taught many people how to weave--right in the bar! So many people remarked that they had never done anything like that before, especially in a bar!

we stayed later than I had wanted to, until about 12:40, and I didn't get back to my home (after loading up the van with loom and weaving supplies and driving back to the weaving studio to get my car and from there driving home) until 1am. i was so sleepy, but it was completely worth it.

:)
who else can say they taught people to weave ina bar!? No one else, i'm sure.

Today I wove and wove and wove. Mihoko Taught me 3 color interlocking last night, and I became addicted to it today. It feels like stitching-up something precious.

I called and emailed some important people in Worcester, and I sewed some labels on banners from Japan.

My classes are shifting from being mostly taught to me as the student to me helping teach others. It is a satisfying feeling. It's all sinking in.

Mihoko told me that when she first started doing Saori Weaving she didn't understand it. She was young, and she couldn't grasp the idea that she was "weaving Herself".


I'm sure now, I must not get it.

Tuesday the 22nd

Nat and Mihoko had to drive to New York last minute for a funeral.

I picked up a sweet woman from the airport.
Ann traveled from Georgia to take an intensive Saori weaving class. She weaves at home, but she wanted to rejuvenate her creative side. She knows how to do all of the technical things in weaving, but she needed to get out of her head. She wanted a vacation from conformity. I met her at the Logan airport at 1:15pm, and we immediately had a million things to talk about. She has blue streaks in her hair, she has a lovely Georgia accent, and she has 4 children. The drive from Boston to Worcester we spoke about everything from health and alternative doctors, to figure drawing modeling and small towns. At one point my GPS took us on an exit and immediately told us to turn around and get back onto the Mass Pike. Ann and I laughed and laughed and made fun of it for getting us lost. When we got to Saori, I showed her the studio and we went inside to get her settled in the house. We then went grocery shopping (for her week of classes and living in Nat and Mihoko's home) and then had our weaving class at night.

A stand-in for Mihoko, Katherine, was there to run the show, Ann was a pro at setting up and threading her loom. I got to (re)thread a loom with my warp threads. I feel like i am not very good at this yet. But I will keep learning and growing.

:)

My first Friday...

June 18. Last night I wove in the studio alone. It was different, and I think I learn the best, with most things, when I am alone and in a peaceful place to fully concentrate. I sang, loud. I never want to be that person, so I try not to sing out loud (more than a hum) when I am in a group of people. It seems snobbish, I feel.

Now i am networking. Publicizing. Getting the word(s) out.

It is sunny and lovely out. I think I will take a walk and hand out flyers for this upcoming event. Then, hopefully, I will have time to weave a little bit (If Mihoko doesn't have a list of To-Do's already for me).

I am a little sleepy and I feel bla. Maybe getting out of this office and outside will fix that.
until next time, you Blog, you.

The first of many bogs, I'm sure...

So it is somehow June 15th already. I am not sure how that happened. This is my third day at Saori Worcester, a lovely family business owned by Mihoko Wakabayashi and Nat Needle.

The business is in a neighborhood in the inner city, tucked between triple-decker houses that serve as 3 family apartments.

I have done so much in my first 3 days here.

Tuesday the 8th, the day after I had driven from Bar Harbor to Northbridge with the stuff from my house (that I was moving out of--lovely 'summertime), I met Nat and Mihoko at their home (in front of the weaving studio) to talk about Creative Laundry Day (which is taking place the August 13th). 2 other people who were working on the planning, art-making and publicity for the event were there, happily drinking coffee and eating bagels that Mihoko had made for everyone. I listened. I smiled. Mihoko and Nat's two boys woke up and started their day of school and Cha-Cha, a young woman who was living with them for a week came home right as Mihoko and Nat and I ran off to Goddard School to teach a Class of 4th graders how to weave. They were lovely.
the school was big and musty smelling--the kid of place I imagine public schools to look like--smell like--but at the same time, it had a unique quirk to it: a large auditorium with a piano and left-over Christmas decorations (in June)....bright red chairs bolted to the floors...some unruly knit things huddled in the corners of the stair well. The kids I met were fabulous. 90 percent of them spoke Spanish, and it made an interesting dynamic between the teachers and students. I would be fascinated to see how they view authority differently than students who speak the same language as their teachers and administrators.
I spoke with Karla, Cati, Indina and other sweet Latina girls who asked me if I was from Puerto Rico. I smiled at that--if only I looked like I was from Puerto Rico! One of the girls wore Nat's woven jacket. She looked like a little samurai drowning in her clothes. Another put a scarf around her neck and said "I'm a Diva!"...this same girl later said "Who like's fashion???" to the whole class. They all proceeded to answer loudly. :)
So full of joy and creativity--I couldn't believe what some of these kids were weaving--I felt nervous that i might never be that good. "That Good"--Hopefully I will break that mind set soon...but it is hard to remember NOT to compare yourself constantly..to everyone.
after teaching at the elementary school we went back home and worked some more on scheduling and I ended up helping Cha-Cha carry some boxes to her car. That day Kenzo and Naoto Jo were flying into Boston from Japan.
The house was buzzing and Mihoko was so stressed about getting everything in order for their arrival.-- work calls!

Taking my first weaving class tonight with Mihoko! yay